Due to circumstances beyond my control I had to wait until now to make any comments on the political developments of the last two weeks.

We’ll start with Obama: He sure is a great speaker. I really liked his speech at the DNC. In general I agreed with 80% of what he said.

First a negative: He really doesn’t understand money. Somehow he thinks that he can increase corporate taxes and it won’t affect the average American. It is clear to me that before politics he worked for a non-profit because corporations which have to turn a profit look at their expenses (including taxes) and make sure they charge enough for their goods or services to cover those costs. If he raises taxes on corporations they will have three choices: 1. raise the price of their goods and services (that affects you and me) 2. lower their production costs by either decreasing the quality of their goods or shipping jobs over seas (that affects you and me) 3. losing money and eventually closing their doors and firing their employees (that affects you and me). Hey, Obama! What’s good for American industry is good for American consumers and workers.

Positive: I commented on this once before for Father’s day. I love how Obama realizes that government can’t fix everything.

…We must also admit that fulfilling America’s promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our “intellectual and moral strength.” Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can’t replace parents; that government can’t turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that’s the essence of America’s promise.

Amen!

McCain on the other hand is not a good speaker. I heard he rehearsed that speech for 3 weeks and he still can’t deliver it effectively. I agree with Roy Rants that the applause ruin a speech, but at least if you can deliver a full phrase it works better. McCain couldn’t even manage to get out a full thought before stumbling and allowing the audience a chance to applaud.

Sarah Palin on the other hand is a great speaker even if she is tongue in cheek. But here is my issue there. The media has had to really go out there to find stuff about her because they don’t know who she is. Taking a stab at her motherhood is where they have ended up. On the KUNM Call in Show one of the guests mentioned how people may be concerned at how Sarah Palin’s infant son may affect her position as VP and how that shouldn’t be the issue because we wouldn’t ask the same question of a man. No, we wouldn’t men and women are different, but here is what I think. We should be asking ourselves if her position as VP will affect her ability to fulfill her role as a mother to that child and if we want someone who thinks that being VP is more important than being a mother as a leader in our government. I am not saying that a woman cannot work and raise a family but that the role of VP is probably more demanding than a normal 9 to 5 job and may require her to spend days away from her children. She has done very well up until now, but I’m not sure that Trig belongs in Congress. Thankfully her husband can fill in. For better or worse it will most likely only be an issue until about November 4th at which point she can return to Alaska and take her children back to the governor’s office.